IND - This is just a light breakfast, lunch and dinner should follow: Bucan

TEHRAN (FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Men) - India coach Aleksandar Bucan is a much excited man these days.

His team might have finished 13th in the championship - the same as last time. But it's the manner in which the team played that has evoked a series of compliments, if not congratulations yet, for Bucan from the discerning in the basketball circles.

'This Indian team has definitely played much better than many of its predecessors' is the commonest comment about Bucan's boys.

"Yes. I'm really satisfied with the way the boys have shown improvement. But that has only made me hungry for more," Bucan said in an exclusive interview with S Mageshwaran of FIBA Asia.

"It's like we have just had a good, but light, breakfast. A sumptuous lunch and a good dinner must follow," the 35-year-old eulogized.

Excerpts

You have been in India for one year. What is your assessment?

Well. The reality of the result of our showing in the FIBA Asia tournaments - in junior as well as senior level - is that we finish in the lowest foursome.

But if you ask me if this low ranking is a reflection of our true potential, I would emphatically disagree.

Let's quickly analyze our performance in this championship itself for instance. Whom did we play in the preliminary round? We played China, who were, if you ask me the most powerful team in the championship. Then we played Japan, who are a semifinalist now. But against Hong Kong, we notched a huge win.

If you take the game against Japan for instance, we led by eight points at the end of the first quarter before their experience began to show. Against China too we were leading in the first quarter, but then we were playing the strongest combination in the competition.

And in the Quarterfinal round, we lost to Chinese Taipei who have been a consistent top 5-6 team in the championship. Against Saudi Arabia it was a matter of one mistake in our play in the final seconds. And we beat UAE in the play-offs.

We have got the same position as in the last championship, but in a very different way.

So overall it's not a bad performance, although the score-line and results will not necessarily reflect that.

That's exactly the reason why I say our results are not a true reflection of our potential.

What do you think should be done to get the results?

Look, we have to accept that the system we play in Indian basketball is the same as some teams in Europe played 20 years ago. That's how much we have lagged behind.

Therefore, when we prepare our teams now, we need to have a vision for systems that will come into play 5-6 years from now.

We need to streamline the selection process of our players. We need to pick a new type of young players who can adapt to a new basketball habit quickly.

In an Indian context young can mean up to 22 years of age. That's the latitude we have to work with.

Do you think Indians are genetically made for basketball, especially in terms of height?

Well, I don't believe that only giants can bring results.

Also if you break down the composition of a team into positions in basketball, I think we have more than optimum height for four out of the five positions.

It's only for the No. 5 position or low post we are lacking in height.

And if you break down a population of more than a billion to a million of youngsters who have the resources to play basketball, I don't think it will be difficult to find tall players who can play low post.

It's a matter of finding 1-2 players in a million.

Like I said earlier, if we can put a better system of selecting our young players in place, we surely can get better results.

Do you have any suggestions for streamlining the selection process?

Yes. For starters, we need to bring a couple of changes in the way we play our sub-junior and mini nationals.

We need to bring a rule that all the teams have to field all the players for at least ten minutes in every game. That way the selectors will get to watch all the players in the fray.

We can then spot youngsters who might not be playing well right now, but who have the potential for bigger things, if honed properly.

This rule is in vogue in Europe for U12 youngsters. In India, we can do it for the U14 and U16 levels.

Also, we can bring a ban on position zone defense. That way all the players have to that much extra hard on the court.

This can be done at the U16 level.

If you look at all the players playing for at least 10 minutes with a ban on position zone defense, I think the pool of talent available for our selection will almost double from what it is right now.

Also these changes for players will bring about a wholesale change in all the departments - like for referees and the officials on the table.

I think Indian basketball will wear a new look should we think ahead in the right direction.

Finally, what is your personal experience in India?

I must feel grateful for those who run basketball in India for accepting me as one of them.

One thing I have seen is that there are a few committed people in India, who have made a lot of sacrifices to keep the sport going in India. Hats off to such people.

But such sacrifices are in vain if the National Teams don't bring in the necessary results.

With a few progressive changes in our system of selecting our young players, I'm sure the hard work put in by these people will reap rich rewards.

If you want me to talk like a Serbian, I would say I'm not happy with the results I have got in one year. But as somebody who has had 15 years of experience in coaching, I must say the signs of improvement are beginning to show.

It all depends on how we sustain this improvement.

It's like we have just had a good, but light, breakfast. We have to ensure a sumptuous lunch and a good dinner follows.

S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia